It was the first time he had been targeted by the boo-boys since taking over Jose Mourinho in September. Neither did he have any views about Kalou's controversial winner - claiming he had yet to see a TV replay of it.

But Grant said: "I have not seen the television but we created so many chances today so we deserved to win anyway. We created eight or 10 good chances.

"I think the supporters are behind us. They know we are not having an easy time with all the problems we have. We continue to fight but it is not easy.

"This is the time to speak about the players who played. They showed good football in the first half and a lot of character at the end of the game.

"The substitutions were made because Joe Cole had an injury and Michael Ballack has not played so many games, but we needed him because of the injuries. We can cause him a problem if we let him play for 90 minutes at the moment. But I will not be pessimistic today."